Friday, December 27, 2013

Pulp Fiction, A Caballo, Anahita show and more..

NEWSPulp Fiction

(Work by Sanju Jain)

Artspeaks, Delhi presents the recent paintings of artist Sanju Jain in a show titled, ‘Pulp Fiction’. Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, which is said to be the seat of Indian abstract art with the continued presence and influence of artists like late J.Swaminathan and S.H.Raza, and also considering the immediate history of contemporary artists from this region who have devoted themselves in practicing and promoting the abstract art language/s, Sanju Jain too has all the reasons to adopt a language which is apparently modernist and abstract.

The show is on view till 10th of January 2014.

Anahita

Ahmedabad Ni Gufa, presents a group show of six upcoming artists’ works. The show is titled, ‘Anahita’ and displays water colour on paper works, along with oil and acrylic on canvas paintings.

The show is to be inaugurated by Hasmukh Patel, eminent architect and Nabibakhsh Mansoori, eminent artist. The participating artists in the show are Bhavesh Zala, Subir Dey, Mehul Prajapati, Hardik Pancholi, Durgesh Goswami, and Aqib Shaikh.

A water colour demonstration also will take place on 8th January 2014, 4:00 pm onwards.

The show previews on 7th of January 2014 at 5:00 pm and is on view till 12th January 2014.

Naty

(work by Sandhya Vaish)

Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi presents ‘Naty’, the solo art show with a display of artworks by artist Sandhya R. Vaish.

Sandhya did her professional course in art from Roorkee's Kala Angan and soon started as a nature artist. She has shown gradual progression and has developed the unique ability to add unusual creative styling to each of her works.

The nature influenced canvases are a testament to her efforts and skill. The show is on view till 31st December 2013.

‘A Caballo’ is a Spanish word which means Horseback. Most of the paintings are equestrian themed ie, about horses. The artist is of the firm belief that horses lend us the wings we lack. He shows his life, with all the hues of pain and struggle in a form of horses as his muse. Horse is the symbol of speed, strength.

To the artist horses and freedom are synonymous. The show is on view from 28th December 2013 to 6th January 2014.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Illustrated story of our lives

Four young women come together to share quirky stories through their illustrations through the Illustrator’s Collective

(Creating different designs The illustrator’s collective)

The Illustrator’s Collective is a group of four designers, each in their own right — Bakula Nayak, Kalyani Ganapathy, Shreyas R. Krishnan and Trusha Sawant — who came together for their love of illustration. In their recent exhibition “My Cup of Tea” at Kynkyny, the group you could see how they are bringing different techniques and styles of illustration together in one space to provide a platform to showcase their work to people.

“The idea is also to make illustration as a concept more available to people because otherwise you’d probably see it in the context of books or the Internet,” they say. It is also a chance to look at illustrations from up-close, where they can be seen in full detail and quality.

“A lot of illustrators use stories to interact with people looking at their work and have them understand where the work came from. Traditionally an illustration is an interpretation of the written word and essentially we are all storytellers.”

Each of them tells different stories, drawing from their observations and life experiences.

“The treatment used, is basically cutting away the black and leaving it in places I want it to be there. It connected nicely to the theme considering that it’s about these women who are covered in black,” says Shreyas. “With this series, it was more about the visual of the women covered in black because it’s got a graphic quality. I think there’s a bit of disconnect in what you think the burkha is for because one actually looks at them more because they are wearing it. But more than the social commentary of any sort this was just about things that I see.”

Out of the Blue

Trusha Sawant’s lino and screen prints are quirky; she fills them with images of a dinosaur, Andy’s ashtray (drawn from Andy Warhol’s can of soup) or an enchanted tree, all in shades of indigo.

“Ever since we are children, we grow up socially conditioned to think and behave a certain way. We are always told what to do and what to say and that affects how we observe things, what we see and memorize. So what I try to do through my works is to pick out certain nuances, some oddities that I see in everyday life. Sometimes I give them a whimsical, surreal twist,” explains Trusha. “My use of indigo relates to the way my ideas appeared out of the blue, over random conversations. Also, I think it’s quite a contemplative colour.”

My cup of tea - Oh my! The things in it!

Bakula Nayak works on vintage paper, using watercolour, pen and ink to create intricate imagery that is absurd, almost fantastical, yet endearing. A snail carries a precarious stack of cupcakes and teacups on its back, or a fat bird perched atop wears a woollen cap while it’s snowing. “I used to collect a lot of vintage paper and a few months ago, I decided to draw again after a long gap. I had stored them for such a long time that giving them new life in a new context excited me,” says Bakula. “And I worked with circumstances from my life. I used to live in New York and I hated the winters there, so the illustration was a statement to that. I used to love drinking tea in the winter, when they would come out with special flavours.”

Memory Box

Kalyani Ganapathy paints landscapes in unusual shades, of pink, orange and brown. Most of these landscapes, of birds in the sunset, toadstools, a “blanket of stars”, or lotus ponds against the sun, are from her memory. “This is the first time I have done landscapes. The work is like a visual journal of many instances in life. They are real life memories, which I have abstracted, to an extent. I use watercolours in a way that it wouldn’t normally be used to paint landscapes,” says Kalyani.

“I enjoy working on minute details using watercolours and also the way different colours run into each other within the form. So there is a lot of exploration of detail in my work. I think the shades of brown lend themselves to a vintage look, of something preserved.”

(Report by Harshini Vakkalankam, Photo by Sampath Kumar GP for The Hindu)